Another Issue Related to Box Squats

Posted several times but fuck it I’ll ask again, sorry.My body is very disproportionately (is this good word?), so i always had problems with squats. My height is 6.1 but i have long legs and arms. Question about the box height, what is required height to go parallel? The height from the floor to the knee is 21.2 inches so is this height required for box or 1-2 inches less so i can go below parallel?

I’m new at this and I really want to improve my technique and flexibility, I hope with time I’ll be able to perform good squat for powerlifting standards.

Well I’m 6’ and the top of my kneecap to the floor is 22" (just measured cause I’ve never cared) I do not have disproportionate appendages, nor cared either. I use a 15" box

So basically i can use lower box to practice depth and higher box to overload?
But if going lower hurts my knees going to parallel is still good squat?

A video of your squat might reveal why it hurts your knees when you go to parallel.

A 21 inch box won’t get you close to breaking parallel in an SPF meet.

But seriously, I’m built very similarly to you (6 feet tall, all arms and legs) and a 15" box has me just barely below parallel. I tend to work somewhere between 10-15" on my box squats. Switch the box heights up like you suggest, but really there isn’t much benefit to working off boxes above parallel (especially for a raw lifter).

A 21 inch box won’t get you close to breaking parallel in an SPF meet.

But seriously, I’m built very similarly to you (6 feet tall, all arms and legs) and a 15" box has me just barely below parallel. I tend to work somewhere between 10-15" on my box squats. Switch the box heights up like you suggest, but really there isn’t much benefit to working off boxes above parallel (especially for a raw lifter).

And here’s a pretty great video from the master of the box squat himself. Guy in the video works off a 14" box and as you can see that’s just getting him to depth.

Vid has some good pointers on the box squat. A few of the most helpful: (1) sit back and 100% of your weight should be on the box, don’t bounce off of it; (2) don’t crash onto the box. helpful ways of looking at i’ve seen are to either pretend you’re sitting on shards of glass, or pretend you’re sitting on a scale and trying to make it weigh half your body weight at first before completely sitting on the box; and (3) the knees should be parallel with, or a little behind, your feet.

Good luck man. Box squats really helped me with developing good technique for the squat, and my squat went up 100 lbs over the course of a year without doing a regular squat once in between.

[quote]gigomoravac wrote:
So basically i can use lower box to practice depth and higher box to overload?
But if going lower hurts my knees going to parallel is still good squat?[/quote]

Essentially yes, that’s how it’s used. However, too much time in the high box for “overload” leads to crappy real squats and difficulty keeping form at parallel or below so I would overload with caution.

Parallel is where the TOP of your knee is just above the top crease of your hip, so your box will essentially be 21 inches high - however thick your leg is at the hip. You’ll likely need a 15-16 inch box to really hit parallel, maybe lower.

90/100 times the knee hurts more above parallel, so I’d be interested to see why it hurts at the bottom most.

Firstly like to thank everyone for your answers, I have no problem with regular squats I can go slightly below parralel.

I’m interested only in what way would be best to put box squats in my leg routine, otherwise speaking I’m interested what will benefit most for my squat doing them on box, technique, flexibility, strength? Are they safer and easier than regular ones? And what’s height for box that is required for that?

[quote]Rock978 wrote:
And here’s a pretty great video from the master of the box squat himself. Guy in the video works off a 14" box and as you can see that’s just getting him to depth.

Vid has some good pointers on the box squat. A few of the most helpful: (1) sit back and 100% of your weight should be on the box, don’t bounce off of it; (2) don’t crash onto the box. helpful ways of looking at i’ve seen are to either pretend you’re sitting on shards of glass, or pretend you’re sitting on a scale and trying to make it weigh half your body weight at first before completely sitting on the box; and (3) the knees should be parallel with, or a little behind, your feet.

Good luck man. Box squats really helped me with developing good technique for the squat, and my squat went up 100 lbs over the course of a year without doing a regular squat once in between.

Thanks for video.

[quote]gigomoravac wrote:
Firstly like to thank everyone for your answers, I have no problem with regular squats I can go slightly below parralel.

I’m interested only in what way would be best to put box squats in my leg routine, otherwise speaking I’m interested what will benefit most for my squat doing them on box, technique, flexibility, strength? Are they safer and easier than regular ones? And what’s height for box that is required for that?[/quote]

They have a lot of applications, so use them for a good amount of your PL goals.
Use them for hammering your posterior chain and for speed work.
If you have issues going well below parallel raw then it’s a good way to gradually increase your strength lower and lower in the hole.
I really like them for adductor work and using them for wide squats to really stress the hips, similarly to deficit deadlifts.

Regarding box height- I’m only 5’9" but I’ve used as low as 8" for speed work.
I know StormTheBeach uses a 13" box and he’s around your height, fwiw